White Stripes in Paris

TWO

"The visit" - Chapter 2

"Bree?" called Austin from the other side of the door. He walked into her office "The police want your report, they heard about your blonde woman. What should I do?"

"Just give them this". Bree reached some papers from a drawer and gave them to Austin. "There's it all and I know they will close the case like it was suicide or some type of accident but I won't let this pass" she said. Austin sighed and made his way out of her office with the papers in his hands. Meanwhile, Bree started her research on Lilith. Apparently, Lilith Monet was the full name of the woman that visited the city. The pictures and paintings matched with who Bree had in her office just a few hours before. She was married to Franklin Monet, a multimillionaire with some shady past. He and his wife lived in Paris, France, in a luxurious mansion way far from Chicago, but still for some reason Lilith was there that day. After a few minutes, the only information Bree had about the Monet's was that Lilith was Frank's second wife, and his first wife and daughter died in a fire 20 years ago. They never found the daughter's body but it is suspected to be in some private graveyard of the family.

Bree's door was knocked yet again. She stood up from her chair and looked through the peephole, two men were standing there. They had black hair and were wearing suits, but one was taller than the other. The detective opened the door and looked at the two men. "Hello" she said "What can I help you with?" she made space for them to walk in.

"Good evening, Brielle" said the taller one, sitting down on one of the chairs. The other one sat next to him and Bree sat down at her chair. It had been years since someone called her 'Brielle', her full name, and she was surprised that somebody knew that about her, because she had been introducing herself as 'Bree' since she was a kid.

"How do you know that name?" she asked, putting her prior investigation aside.

"Wait, you don't know who we are?" the shorter one asked. She looked at them confused.

"Are you stupid? Of course she doesn't, it's not like we are famous" the taller one talked to the other guy. She cleared her throat and both men looked at her. "We are very sorry, we are Frank and Andre. We came here to talk to you, our knowledge on your full name was pure investigation" the taller, Frank, smiled.

Andre, was now standing, put a suitcase over Bree's desk and kept it closed, and after that, he sat again. "Please open this whenever you have the time. It is very important for your own sake" he said.

"These files have a lot of private information that should not be revealed to anybody other than us three. Whenever you want to talk about what you will read, my address is at the end of the folder" said Frank.

"Thanks" she said doubtly and both men stood up. Bree walked over the door to open it for the guests, Frank went out but Andre forced a hug before leaving. The hug was warm and comfortable for the detective, something familiar was felt in the hug and she smiled as Andre left finally.

Hours passed and that familiar hug was still wandering in her mind. The files joined in her thoughts from time to time, she was dying to know what was in them. She stood up and for the first time in months, she decided to have lunch in the hospital's little park. She walked to a bench with her lunch in a lunch box full of Hello Kitty stickers. She sat down and ate her tuna sandwich all alone while old people walked by, nurses ran and people cried over someone in intensive therapy. She ate peacefully, saved the edges of the sandwich inside the lunch box and closed it. She stood up again and walked through the hospital while she still had time. Young women were becoming moms and old women were becoming widows. And some boy was becoming an orphan. Bree stopped to look at the kid, full of tears and holding her recently-passed mother. A nurse walked him out of the room as Bree watched and she stood there staring at him.

The kid wiped his tears and looked up to see Bree, staring at him. "Did you know my mom?" he said, hoping that was the reason the detective was there. She shook her head and the boy talked again. "Why are you here then?"

"I'm just like you. My mom is gone too" she said now looking at the doctors covering the woman up.

"That's cool, I guess. We have something in common, does that makes us friends?" said the boy, now sitting down in a chair of the waiting room.

"I think you should have friends of your age, people like me have to work" Bree said, sitting next to him. "But I can be your friend if you tolerate it".

"Tolerate your job? Of course. You are like a brunette Nancy Drew" the boy said, they both laughed. "I'm Louis by the way".

"I'm Bree and I really should get to work. If you ever come around again, look for me, friend" she said, stood up and walked away while waving to Louis. She smiled all the way back to her office and Austin saw her arrive. "Hi Austin" she said all smiley.

"Hi Bree. Did you solve a murder? Or was someone murdered? Why are you smiling? I'm scared of you" Austin said fastly and Bree laughed.

"No, I just met a boy" she said, opening her office's door.

"You're in love?" Austin asked confused.

"I meant a kid. Like, a little boy. A ten year old" Bree explained.

"Are you in love with a-" Austin said but Bree interrumpted.

"No, of course not. Sometimes I hate your brain so much" Bree said. She reached for her bag, with THE files inside of it and locked the door. "Good night, Lee. See you tomorrow" she said and left the hospital. She walked to her house that was 4 blocks away and finally arrived home all excited about reading the documents the two men left for her. She was hoping for a secret investigation or maybe illegal documents. Something more exciting than just... old photos.

Bree opened the suitcase to find old pictures of the same three kids. Two little guys with black hair and a little girl, also with black hair but a little blond strip, just like hers. Her detective mind instantly knew that the little girl with her same hair and a yellow dress was her. Maybe the photo was taken 23 years ago, maybe before she entered the orphanage. She didn't really have memories of her life before her parents died but she assumed those two men that handed the suitcase to her the same afternoon, may know her and her past. Now her detective mind thought, how?